Welcome to Konoha Café!
by Decepshun
Summary: It’s Sakura’s dream come true, working at the brandnew, totally chic Konoha Café, socializing with the rich and famous well, sort of and all that jazz. Too bad it comes with getting coached with two prettyboy prodigies and a hyper ninja wannabe!
1. How It All Began & The Morning

**Welcome to Konoha Café!**

**By- **D…E…C…E…P…S…H…U…N

**Summary-** It's like Sakura's dream come true- working at the brand-new, totally chic Konoha Café, socializing with the rich and famous (well, sort of), and all that jazz. Too bad it comes with two pretty-boy prodigies, one hyper ninja wannabe, and lazy sensei coaching them… [SAKUMULTIPLE[NaruHina [InoShikaTem AU

**Notes- **Okay… this was going to be a Halloween-ish story complete with horror, and suspense… AND COOLNESS (because Halloween's coming soon!!!)… but after writing about a page and a half, the story completely morphed into… something else. Let's just say that this is just a story that I wrote to… erm, _celebrate _the Halloween-ness of the… erm, week.

Random Person: -Ahem- so, basically what Decepshun means is that she's writing a fic to celebrate Halloween, but it's not scary or anything…

Random Person 2: Which is somewhat stupid.

Shut up! –Ahem- anyway, enjoy the story!

**PS- **I'm trying out a new style of writing- if you review, please tell me how it seems. (a.k.a "say if it stupid, genius, or just plain weird... or exactly the same as my other writings.")

-

**+Prologue+**

And How It All Began 

Sakura closed her eyes and sighed. Took a deep breath. Closed her eyes again. Sighed again. Took another breath. She straightened her uniform, and tugged at her skirt. She hand-combed her hair, pulling at the tangles. Frowning, she eyed her chapped lips. Sakura quickly applied lip-gloss and smiled again.

After all, she had gotten _the _job. The ultimate job a girl her age- fifteen years old- could never dream of getting, not in a million years. But she _had_.

The few spots at Konoha Café, reserved for high school students, were almost unobtainable. After going through several job interviews, with existing staff criticizing your every move, how you dressed, how you hair looked, how you held yourself- it was all critical. _But what, exactly, made Konoha Café so desirable_, Sakura couldn't tell. Perhaps it was how chic the café itself looked. Perhaps it was the ultra-hot staff members.

But Sakura didn't care about the chic-looking café, or the cute waiters. She was in it (A/N- very tempting to put in '…for the cash; yeah, baby!') because… well, you could say she wanted to find out where her life was going.

-

**+Chapter One+ **

_The Morning_

A cell phone rang, playing an upbeat melody. Someone stirred. "Mmm," the girl muttered, sleepy, blinking blearily at the clock. _5:45 a.m._, the bright, harsh letters on the alarm clock stared back at her. "Who would be calling so early?" she murmured to herself, relishing the warmth of her bed.

Nevertheless, she opened her light pink cell phone. "Hello… this is Sakura speaking," the girl, Sakura, said softly into the phone. She paused, listening to the speaker calling her. "Hmm…" Pause. "Sorry, sir. I didn't know- I'm new, see." Pause. "Okay. Yes… that wasn't an excuse." Pause. "Alright. Can you first tell them to wait if I don't answer the door?" Pause. "Okay, thanks. Bye."

Sakura groaned, and ran her fingers through her cherry-pink hair. She yawned, and washed her face, feeling a bit more awake now. She smiled at herself in the mirror, and hastily brushed her teeth.

"Good morning, everyone!" she yelled to her stuffed animals- the cat, the bunny, and the mouse. Feeling all awake now, Sakura hugged each of them. "Wish me luck, 'kay?" She sat down next to the stuffed animals and sighed. "I wonder what it'll be like- the new job?" She sat there in silence for a few minutes and jumped up. "I'd better start changing."

She stripped out of her pajamas- consisting of a light pink long-sleeved shirt with cherry blossoms on it, and long dark-pink fleece pants- and into the Konoha Café uniform, which was basically just a long-sleeved, black maid costume. But even frillier.

Sakura sighed, as she slipped on the dress, and put on the white knee-length socks. She tied on the thin, satin-white bow in her hair, and gasped in surprise when she heard a (masculine) voice behind her, whispering in her ear: "You're doing it all wrong." His breath tickled her ear; he untied the bow she had (painstakingly) tied.

"Y-you!" Sakura jumped in surprise, her face turning red. "W-w-what are you doing here?" Her head whipped around, turning to see a boy with short, black hair and even darker eyes, his pale skin not contrasting much with her white ribbon that he held in his hand. Her breath caught in her throat as she eyed him dazedly.

"I'm Sai," he said nonchalantly, as if walking into an unknown girl's bedroom was something he did everyday, "Now let me retie the bow."

Sakura snapped out of her daze. "A-ano!" Sakura yelped a little. "Wait-"

Now listening to her, Sai leaned forward, and bent down a little, as he retied the ribbon, gently tugging at it when he finished. "There." He smiled. "Okay, time for proper introductions. I'm Sai, one of the staff members of Konoha Café…"-I nodded a little, about to sit on my bed-"… and the person you're about to sit on- his name's Naruto."

Sakura squeaked a little, as she realized the presence behind her. Balancing between standing and sitting down, Sakura was about to get back up again and apologize profusely when suddenly; she felt a furry, warm thing rubbing against her leg. Her eyes widening as she held in her scream, Sakura lost her balance and fell, despite her attempts not to, on the stranger sitting on her bed.

To make a long story short…

She fell.

-

"Mou, Saku-chan," the stranger, Naruto, whined, as Sakura tried to squirm from his grasp, red-faced with embarrassment, "Don't go away!" Sakura paused and looked the stranger over- with soft-looking blond hair, bright blue eyes, and tanned skin, sixteen-ish, seventeen at most.

She blushed, but when she heard another (thankfully, feminine-at least she thought so) voice mutter: "Dobe." Sakura turned towards the direction of the voice and grinned at the person. She opened her eyes and found herself staring at a girl- or maybe it was a boy- of about sixteen to seventeen; about the same age as Appear-In-Strangers'-Rooms and Weird-Whiny-Guy. She- or maybe it was a he- had medium-length silky-looking dark hair, and obsidian eyes, staring back at Sakura.

"Introduce yourself, teme!!!" the blond boy- Naruto- yelled gleefully… or perhaps he was always this cheerful. The girl- or a boy- sighed and brushed hair away from her- or maybe his- forehead and began: "I'm Uchiha Sasuke. Ignore anything the dobe says about me." With that, she (or a he?) huffed, and glared out the window.

"What's with her today?" Sakura whispered not-so-quietly to Sai, who was leaning against the pale pink wall of Sakura's bedroom. Naruto snickered, hearing her question, and Sai smiled- although barely. Sasuke head snapped in her direction. Noticing her acquaintances' reactions, Sakura blinked innocently: "Was it something I said?"

There was a long awkward silence, broken by Naruto's badly contained laughter. He finally burst out laughing, followed by a huge smirk from Sai and a scowl and a glare from Sasuke.

"The thing is… -snicker-," Naruto managed to say between giggles and snickers, "that… -snicker- our fellow 'Suke here, -snicker-, is, in fact, 100 male." Sakura's hands flew up to cover her mouth- she was mortified to the extreme. "Ano, Sasuke-kun, gomen."

"It's-" Sasuke started to say, but was interrupted by a sudden door opening, banging into the wall. A dramatic smoke wafted around from behind the open door, and as the smoke cleared, the four saw a gray-haired man with a sheepish smile on his face.

"Hello, kiddies!" the gray-haired man said cheerfully, pulling out an orange book, "Sorry I'm late. See, there was this old lady, and her cat was stuck in the middle of the road. But… a car was going to come! Thinking quick-wittedly, I ran to the middle of the road, snatched the poor thing up and brought it back to the old lady. Being the seemingly-cold-but-deep-down-is-a-poetic-soul person I really I am, I gave a long speech about how the poor kitty-cat could have been killed. The old lady thanked me over and over and over again and told me to go visit her home, where we could have a tea party. Being the truly nice person I am, of course I accepted. But then she-"

"What total crap!" Naruto yelled, shoving his foot in the man's face. "Kaka-sensei, you SUCK!!!"

"Hmm," Sai commented, "That's the worst excuse you've had in months, Kakashi."

Sasuke ignored everyone and just stared out the window, inducing Sakura to believe that something exciting _was _really out the window- what exactly was out there? She had lived in this room for sixteen years of her life, but she hadn't noticed anything out there. Or maybe that was something pretty-boys (or girls… -snicker-) like Sasuke did.

Either way, that didn't really explain what the strange, gray-haired man was doing, bursting into her apartment. Or the fact that he was studying her plushies. Or the fact that he was busy drooling at whatever he was reading in that garish, orange book of his.

"Kaka-sensei! Are you listening?"

"Not really."

"NO!!! You are, since you're replying."

"Not really."

"YOU SUCK!!! DATTEBAYO!!!"

"Not really."

"Guys-" Sakura began.

"KAKA-SENSEI!!!"

"Not really."

"Guys!" Sakura tried again.

"Why are you still reading your stupid orange book?"

"Not really."

By then, Sakura was extremely annoyed. Her vein twitched, as she smoothed down her crumpled Konoha Café uniform. She sat down calmly enough, but her anger was released when Naruto started shouting and yelling. "SHUT UP!"-Naruto cringed, but Sai and Sasuke's faces didn't change a bit- "You!"- Sakura pointed at the gray-haired man- "Who the hell are you?"

The gray-haired man's face didn't crumple in fear, but, instead, broke out in a happy, jovial grin. "Ah. How silly of me! I forgot that you don't know me… yet." He finally put down the orange book, and to Sakura's disgust, she found it to be a copy of _Icha Icha Paradise_. "I'm Kakashi, and I'm going to train you poor souls to be a great waiter or waitress at Konoha Café!"

"W-wait!" Sakura questioned. "But what about that cell phone call?"

Kakashi grinned, and sheepishly scratched the back of his head. "Oh, that? That was just a prank call."

Sasuke rubbed his temples, not staring out the window at nothing anymore. "I have a feeling this is going to be really bad." But Naruto, on the other hand, grinned happily, "Yay, Kaka-sensei!" Sai didn't speak, but continued drawing in his black sketchbook- or notebook- that Sakura had no idea when it had come into the scene.

Sakura stared at the others, then at this crazy man, Kakashi, then back at the others. 'Impression,' she thought in her mind, 'not really good.'

-

And it really wasn't. Not the impression. The actual training.

"Okay, kiddies," Kakashi said, "I hope you brought your uniforms." Naruto, Sai and Sasuke exchanged looks, and Sakura giggled when she realized that none of them had brought their uniforms, but stopped giggling when Kakashi got this evil grin on his face. She gulped, as he yelled, with sparkly stars in the air: "ALRIGHT, WHY DON'T YOU WEAR SAKURA-CHAN'S DRESSES? They're uniform-like enough!" Naruto grinned like an idiot, but Sai sighed as he banged his head once on the wall. Sasuke mumbled incoherent words under his breath, but judging by the look on his face, Sakura didn't really think he had said, "Ooh, dresses! Oh, the lace! Oh là là!"

Sakura's frown dissipated as she joined in on Kakashi's evil plan. She disappeared into her closet, and brought back the most frilly, girly dresses- the ones Ino had bought and forgotten (or was that on purpose?) to take home and Sakura had been forced to keep.

Sakura smirked as she held up a pink spaghetti-strap dress with light pink beaded chiffon (A/N- ok. I don't really know what that is… but…) shawl sewn onto it- so it couldn't come off (no matter she had tried to make it look less prom-ish, but ended up failing… multiple times). In her other hand, there was a strapless summer dress from god-knows-where that was a mix of fuchsia and amethyst, which was a disgustingly girly colour with only fuchsia already. It had a piece of black lace tied in a bow at the waist area, the outfit complete with frilly dark pink lace at the hem of the dress.

Sakura smiled innocently as she place the two dresses on her bed, and the boys watched, stunned, as she disappeared back into her closet. Kakashi giggled like a little girl at random times, but the other three present in the room with him sincerely hoped- for the first time- it was because of his stupid orange book, not because of the impending feeling of doom they felt, as Sakura returned, with another dress.

"Hmm," the roseate-haired girl pondered, more to herself than the other people present in the room, "Aren't I lucky that Ino-pig bought so many dresses?" She hummed a tuneless song, as she sorted through all her clothing.

When she came back to her room, she found a half-naked Sasuke standing, holding the summer dress as far away as he could from him, but a happy-looking Naruto jumping up and down in the prom dress, making her wonder, how exactly, did Naruto fit into a dress that a girl HER size wore- but the thought quickly disappeared, as she didn't really want nightmares about it.

"I don't really want to wear this abomination of a dress," Sasuke said to her, as he noticed that Sakura had entered the room. Sakura, up until that point, had used every ounce of her willpower to keep her eyes averted from Sasuke, but when she heard his voice, her head snapped in his direction… and fainted from the sheer hotness, her last thought being: 'Damn pretty boys.'

-

Sakura woke up to Kakashi's voice, saying: "Alright, kiddies, you don't have to crowd around her," which was replied to by Naruto, "But I've got to make sure Sakura-chan's okay! DATTEBAYO!!!" Sakura felt groggy and light-headed. She groaned a little; her head hurt like hell.

"Ugh," she moaned, as she sat up. A bit unconsciously, she asked, without any real meaning: "What did you guys put in my tea?" Sakura rubbed her temples. That's about when she got a real look at what she was wearing- pajamas. Her eyes widened.

"WHAT THE HELL? DID YOU GUYS CHANGE WHAT I WAS WEARING? PERVS!!!"

Naruto looked at Sai. Sai looked at Sasuke. Sasuke looked at Kakashi. Kakashi looked at Naruto. There was a long moment of silence. Finally, Sai spoke up, and with a pained look on his face, said, "You don't really want to know."

Sakura was content with that answer. She lay back down- that was when she noticed the bed she was in. It just didn't feel _right. _She looked around. It had black sheets. Black _silk _sheets. The pillows had dark blue pillowcases. Then she finally understood why this bed seemed so… different- "HEY! This isn't my bed!"

Again, Kakashi looked at Sasuke. Sasuke looked at Sai. Sai looked at Naruto. Naruto looked at Kakashi. There was another awkward silence. "Umm, you don't really want to know that either."

"Right," Sasuke said, "And that's my bed you're in."

Sakura looked confused, as she surveyed her surroundings. "HEY! This isn't my room… Where are Neko-chan, Bunny-kun and Nezumi-kun?"

"Yes. You're in Sasuke's room, Ugly. Therefore, your disgusting cat, bunny and mouse things are in your room." Before Sakura could glare and hit Sai for calling her 'Ugly', Kakashi butted in with, "Hey, kiddies, let's start the lessons. I'd like to start before I grow old and die of old age."

-

"Curtsy!" Sakura yelled, seeming to enjoy every moment of the pain Sai went through; as he 'curtsied', his eye twitched with annoyance. "More gracefully, Sai!" She clapped her hands gleefully, like a little child, as she watched him curtsy flawlessly in the blue frilly Alice's-Adventures-in-Wonderland-type dress.

"Why," Sai asked, his face devoid of any annoyance he –might- have felt, "the hell do I have to do this? Why did Dickless and Emo-Kid get to leave?" Sakura grinned, clearly enjoying his discomfort. "Well, see, Sai-_kun_, you get to stay with me in my apartment! To get in touch with your… umm, femininity," Sakura said, grinning widely.

Sai's face lost its colour, and if it was possible, it turned even paler than its usual colouring. Sakura noticed and giggled a little, tossing her pale pink locks back. "Mou, Sai! I'm not that bad!"

From somewhere in her apartment, Sakura heard a high-pitched giggle that she could only assume came from Kakashi. She shuddered, and poked Sai, who had seemed to have frozen to ice. Hearing another giggle, she poked Sai again (more frantically), who still wasn't moving. Finally, after hearing multiple more giggles, Sakura just dragged Sai onto her bed, and dividing it in half with a line of pillows, fell into a deep sleep.

-

_Preview-_

She awoke to the sound of a scratching pencil on paper. Not really caring what it was, Sakura groggily moaned, as she hugged onto the closest thing she could find. Savoring the warmth the thing- whatever it was- brought, she snuggled closer to it, but tilted her head slightly, in confusion, when the thing stiffened. Sakura opened one eye, and in alarm, opened the other… 'Whoops. That was just Sai I hugged.'

-

**Play list-**

_In The End _**Linkin Park**

_Welcome to the Black Parade _**My Chemical Romance**

_Falling For You _**Eva Avila**

_Dirty Little Secret _**The All-American Rejects**

_When You're Gone _**Avril Lavigne**

_Dear Mr. President _**P!nk**

_My Girl's Ex-Boyfriend _**Relient K.**

**-**

It's the end… of this chapter!

Whoa… this is the longest chapter I've ever written! I'm so proud of myself!!! XD

Please review!

PS- How old do you guys think I am, anyway? Like, do I seem on the old-ish side…? Take a guess- whoever gets it right will… GET A WHOLE CHAPTER DEDICATED TO THEM!!! XD If you want, that is. What _I _want to know is how old I seem…

PPS- Okay, I've read over the A/N and I realize how creepy I sound. XD

**Decepshun**


	2. A Rather Disastrous Morning After

**Welcome to Konoha Café!**

**By: **Decepshun

**Summary: **It's like Sakura's dream come true- working at the brand-new, totally chic Konoha Café, socializing with the rich and famous (well, sort of), and all that jazz. Too bad it comes with two pretty-boy prodigies, one hyper ninja wannabe, and lazy sensei coaching them… SAKUMULTIPLE NaruHina InoShikaTem AU

**Let's go laugh at what this story **_**used**_** to be** Did you know this story was gonna be an angst-filled tale of an unrequited, dark love? XD Yup; it started out as a story of Sakura investigating some random creepy rumour about a vampire in _Konoha Café _(as you might remember, it was _supposed_ to be for Halloween), but… alas, in the end… hehe

**Just so you know… **So this portion is kind of like the predicted FAQ (I do these because no one really asks questions T_T Decepshun is sad.)

_Gasp! OMG. There was this segment where you used First-Person POV!! _I wonder if anyone caught that. Bah. I was rereading it just a few minutes ago and I realized in one section, I used First-Person POV instead of Third-Person. Hehe. Sorry.

_Why is Sakura so evil towards Sai? WHAT DID HE DO TO HER?!?!?! _As you might remember, he made this mean comment towards her lovely cat, bunny and rat toys. Bad Sai.

Ahem, anyway. Sorry for the long wait for this chapter. _

-

**+Chapter Two+**

_A Rather Disastrous Morning After_

When Sakura woke up, she heard the low voice of someone muttering.

For a moment, Sakura wondered who it was. But then she heard the sound of pencil on paper- a _scritch-scratch _sound, and forgot about her question; in a way, she found the sound quite soothing. Sakura shivered quietly- a window was open, and the fall breeze found its way into the room- and moved closer to the source of warmth next to her. Savouring the warmth that this thing (whatever it was) brought, she snuggled closer to it, and wrapped her arms around it, but tilted her head slightly, in confusion, when said thing stiffened.

The _scritch_-_scratch _sound stopped abruptly, and the sound of dry leaves dancing on the ground outside was all that could be heard.

Sakura opened one of her eyes warily, and in alarm, quickly opened the other.

"Eh? Sai-san?" she muttered groggily, slightly alarmed, "What are you doing here?" The dark-haired boy was sitting on the inner part of her bed, which was against the wall. He had opened the window next to the bed, and he had been sketching something (that was outside the window, she presumed) when Sakura woke up.

Sai scowled. "You don't remember, Ugly? You know, forcing me into wearing a _dress_? Then making me stay?"

Sakura half-grinned, and then said, "Ah, I remember now. And don't be angry, Sai-_chan_. We all know that you secretly like to cross-dress." She stuck out her tongue at him in a childish way.

He scowled again, then was about to shut the notebook that he had been sketching in, when Sakura suddenly stopped him. She looked inquisitively at the notebook.

"Ne, Sai-san, what were you drawing, anyway?" Sakura asked, a curious look on her face. There was a pause as Sai stared blankly at her, and suddenly something registered, and he flushed a dark red, quickly shutting his notebook.

"Nothing," he said, regaining his composure.

Her hands on her hips, and glaring at Sai, Sakura said, in a slightly childish tone: "Well, _mister_, that's impossible! How're you supposed to draw _nothing_?!" (**A/N**: I used to get this reply from my classmates whenever I told them I was drawing 'nothing' [minus the 'mister' part XD]. Haha, good times…) She reached over for the notebook, which Sai had shoved behind him, so that now it was between his back and the wall.

"C'mon, _Sai_," Sakura asked in a whiny voice, looking at Sai with puppy-dog eyes, "please-please-please? Pretty please with a cherry on top?" She batted her eyelashes, and laughed a little, at the silliness of the action. Sai stared at her, his eye twitching, like he thought she was completely nuts (which, actually, is probably true. That she's completely nuts, that is).

Sakura growled, like a child not getting what she wanted.

"OH, COME ON, SAI. JUST LET ME SEE THE FRIGGING PICTURE," Sakura yelled, and then added with another bat of her eyelashes, "pretty please?"

Sai stared at her, silent (probably disturbed by her random outburst) when suddenly, the silence was disrupted by Sakura's cell phone, as it rang, playing a cheery melody; its small screen flashed with light. Sakura glared at the phone, then with a long, drawn-out sigh, picked up the phone. "Hello?" Pause. Sakura wore a puzzled expression on her face. "What are you talking about?" Pause. "Really?" Pause. She laughed sheepishly. "Whoops, sorry about that. Why didn't you just ring the doorbell or something?" Pause. Another sheepish laugh. "What? There's no doorbell? I thought there was one… Anyway, ahem. See you in… umm, soon."

Sakura snapped the phone shut, and placed it back onto the small wooden table next to her bed. "Be back in a second, 'kay?" She said to Sai, who shrugged indifferently, and returned to sketching in his notebook.

'Bah, emotionless bastard,' Inner Sakura muttered, as Sakura made her way to the door, avoiding various things littered on the floors. Once she reached the door, she unlocked it, and it swung open, revealing Kakashi, Naruto and Sasuke- the latter of which looked extremely annoyed. "Good morning," Sakura greeted the three of them, with a wide smile.

"Good morning!" Naruto half-shouted back, as he brought out a pack of ramen. "Ne, ne, Sakura-chan, look! They had ramen on sale, so I bought a whole ton!"

"Um. That's… uh, nice, Naruto," Sakura replied, sweatdropping.

Kakashi coughed uncomfortably. "So, uh, Sakura… uh… did we… uh, _interrupt something_?" He looked at her meaningfully.

"Not really," Sakura said, looking a tad bit puzzled. "I wasn't really doing anything." 'What is _up _with that weird stare? Is he trying to say something?!' Inner Sakura pondered, glaring suspiciously at Kakashi. 'WHAT IS HE TRYING TO SAY?!?!"

He stared at her, and said, "You know, _something_?"

Sakura blinked, staring blankly back at him. "No, actually, I don't know. I haven't the faintest idea what the hell you're talking about."

Kakashi sighed, exasperated. "_SOMETHING_," he repeated (like that'd help).

"Something?" Sakura echoed.

Naruto interrupted this… ahem, _meaningful _conversation as he whined, "My arms hurt from carrying around all this ramen!" He pouted at the other three, who were looking quite clearly disturbed.

"_So_, put the boxes of ramen on the _floor_, dobe," Sasuke commanded. Naruto gasped in shock, at this suggestion.

"No!" Naruto shouted, hugging the boxes of ramen to his chest, "Ramen! I will not let you get attacked by the evil bacteria on the disgusting floor of this weird building"-he was interrupted by Sakura cried out, quite indignantly, "hey!"-"so, don't worry, my precious ramen!" He stroked the box of ramen, laughing creepily, while Sasuke, Kakashi and Sakura stared at him, sweatdropping. Naruto stared back at them and stuck out his tongue.

Kakashi cleared his throat. "_Ahem_, what I mean, Sakura, is that… were you doing anything… uh, _lascivious _in there?"

Sakura raised an eyebrow. "Lascivious?"

"Yeah," Kakashi replied, "You know; anything _odious_? _Ignominious_?" Sakura raised her eyebrow higher at his reply. The look on her face clearly said, "wtf", and briefly, she wondered how a person who only reads indecent books like "Icha Icha Paradise" could know all these random words.

Sakura decided that she didn't want to know. "Seriously, Kakashi-sensei, what the heck are you talking about?"

Kakashi smacked his forehead with the palm of his hand. "Okay… Were you doing _it_?"

"'It?'" Sakura repeated again, "As in sleeping? Yeah. I had a nice dream, you know-"

She was cut off by Sasuke, who had finally gotten annoyed enough to say, "Baka. You're even worse than Dobe." He paused, sighed a bit, and then continued, "Sensei wants to know whether or not you were engaging in sexual intercourse with Sai." Sasuke said each word slowly and deliberately pronounced each syllable, as if he were talking to a four-year-old. After finishing his statement, he muttered under his breath: "For a guy who reads _**books**_ on the freaking subject, you'd think he'd be able to explain it to a fifteen-year-old…"

"What?" Sakura yelled, the same time that Kakashi yelled, "Hey, in my defense, this is a very fifteen-year-old. She glared at Kakashi. "Gee, thanks, Kaka-sensei."

"What? It's true."

Sakura scoffed. "Ha. And you're a weird forty-year-old."

"29!" Kakashi half-screamed. "It's twenty-nine!"

"Close enough," Sakura said, shrugging. "So, where'd you get that idea? That me and Sai were, uh… you know?"

"Well, uh," Kakashi said, "firstly, your hair is kind of messy."

Sakura retaliated with, "Everyone's hair is 'kind of messy' when they just wake up, you know." Her glare intensified. Sakura- score one; Kakashi- score zero.

"Then, err," Kakashi trailed off, obviously trying to think of another reason.

"Ha!" Sakura shouted, with a triumphant grin on her face, "You can't think of anything more to say!"

"I'd say the main reason why is the fact that you were screaming Sai's name about a minute ago," Sasuke said bluntly, while the other two-Sakura and Kakashi-stared at him, their jaws dropping (Naruto was too busy talking incoherently to his ramen). He sighed impatiently. "Can we go in now? It's freezing out here."

It was kind of impossible for Sasuke _not _to feel cold, seeing as, Sakura noted, all he was wearing was a dark-blue T-shirt, a thin-looking black blazer, and black jeans… and it was the _freaking month of_ _October_. Seriously, was he trying to freeze to death or something? (**A/N: **yes, it is that cold in October. At least this year… unless the only reason I'm a cold child in October is because I live in Canada… hmm.)

Sakura considered not letting Sasuke in, just to see if he'd actually freeze to death, but decided against it, since then she'd have hordes of Sasuke fangirls after her. She held open the door. "Come in."

They had only been in her apartment for three seconds when suddenly, Naruto crowed, "Yes! You owe me five hundred dollars, Kaka-sensei!" Naruto nearly lifted his arms up in complete and utter happiness, before he realized that if he did that his (precious) ramen would fall on the floor.

Kakashi, who, surprisingly, knew what Naruto was talking about, groaned.

"Tsk… tsk… you indecent children." He sighed, and grudgingly passed over a wad of bills that he had gotten out of his pocket, while the three- Sai, Sakura and Sasuke- stared at Kakashi and Naruto quizzically.

"Yay!" Naruto shouted, "Now I can buy loads of ramen!" He cheered, but suddenly paused and looked apologetically at his current box of ramen. "Sorry, Ramen-chan," Naruto told the box, "I still love you"-Sakura raised an eyebrow as she watched Naruto look… uh, dramatically… at the box. "Did he just name that box of ramen?"-"Although you'll probably be gone by tomorrow, please, my darling love, know that you will _forever_ be in my heart," he finished dramatically, with a sigh.

The four of them sweatdropped, watching as Naruto looked at the money. "Ne, ne, Kaka-sensei," Naruto said, "I didn't know that there were such things as a two-hundred-and-fifty-dollar bill!"

His comment was met by silence.

"Kaka-sensei?"

"He's gone," Sai noted.

"Surpringly enough," Sasuke commented dryly.

"Hey, he left a note!" Sakura exclaimed, bending down to pick up a small piece of paper that was on the floor. "'Yes, there is such thing as a two-hundred-and-fifty-dollar bill, Naruto. Don't listen to what the others say. Anyway, meet you kiddies at Konoha Cafe. You'd better be there by nine thirty... or Naruto's ramen- don't think I don't know where you keep it- will disappear suspiciously'," Sakura read, "Then there's the address of the Café and a map."

There was a silence, and then Sakura said, "Hey, isn't 9:30 only a minute away?" She glanced at the clock that was hanging above the kitchen table. "It's 9:29, just so you know."

Naruto's eyes bugged out. "HURRY, HURRY, HURRY!" He shrieked, practically dragging the other three with him, "I MUST SAVE MY RAMEN!!!"

As he dragged them along, the note dropped from Sakura's grasp. Little did they know that on the other side, Kakashi had written, 'Whoops! I meant 10:30… haha, silly me. Well, see you at 10:30.'

-

Sakura sighed in annoyance. "Time?"

"9:47," Naruto replied.

Sakura sighed again, exasperated, and muttered various words that little kiddies should not repeat. She kicked a random, unsuspecting stone on the gravel road, as she stared at the building in front of her. The four of them had made their way to Konoha Café just a few seconds before 9:30. It was gorgeous- just like the rumours that Sakura had heard said.

"Time," Sakura said, a cross between a statement and a question.

"It's still 9:47," Naruto replied.

The café really was the stuff of dreams. Sakura had wondered what it was like to be actually _in _the café, if she felt such awe just from looking at its outside. She felt giddy about the fact that in a few minutes (hopefully), she'd be inside. Again, she sighed, then said, "Time?"

"No matter how many times you ask, Ugly, time won't go faster," Sai said.

"I've got a name, you know," Sakura said, in annoyance. Then she groaned in an exasperated manner. "_Kami-sama_, could Kaka-sensei take _even longer_? Geez."

Suddenly, a familiar-looking grey-haired man walked by. "Hello, kiddies," Kakashi greeted them, looking a tad bit confused, "What are you guys doing here so early? It's only 9:50."

"What do you mean?" Sai asked, his dark eyes staring.

"Well, I said on the back of the note that we were supposed to meet at 10:30, and not 9:30," Kakashi explained. Sakura sweatdropped. 'Really? Wouldn't it have been a lot easier to just have crossed out the 9:30 and write 10:30?' Inner Sakura was glaring daggers at Kakashi. "And, yes, Sakura, _really_. It was too much of a bother to just cross out 9:30."

Sakura scratched the back of her head. "Oh. Well, that makes sense."

"So, uh, why are you children here?" Kakashi asked, looking uncomfortable.

"Because you said 9:30 on the note," Sasuke told him.

Kakashi laughed nervously. "Oh, okay, well, um"-he cleared his throat-"why don't you, uh, kiddies run along now, and, you know, get back to what you were doing before you came here?"

"Nope," Sakura said firmly. She glanced, excitedly at the door to the café. "Not until you let us in!"

"Uh, no?"

Sakura glared. "Yes."

"No."

Her glare intensified. "Yes."

"No!"

"YES."

"No."

Sakura smirked evilly. "_No_," she said.

"Yes!... Oh crap."

Sakura laughed a little crazily. "So? Kaka-sensei? The door, if you will."

Kakashi pouted. "But I wanted to read a little _Icha Icha Paradise_ before everyone came." Sure enough, in his hand, was that familiar orange-coloured book that Sakura had grown to despise.

"Ka-ka-sen-sei," Sakura ground out between clenched teeth.

"Uh-oh. Okay, uh, I'll just be leaving now…"

-

"Okay, children," Kakashi said, leading the four to the second floor of the café, "this is where you'll be living from now on."

Naruto, who was still hugging onto his ramen, let out a: "what?"

"Was that just a _really _bad joke? Like, you'll be here so often that it'll feel like you're living here?" Sakura asked.

Her eyes wandered around the room, and took in the gorgeous bay windows and how the light lit up the room in such a nice way. The carpeted floor was soft and comfy, and the couches (she couldn't resist sitting on them when Kakashi looked away)- well, let's just say she would gladly use one as her bed. Then there was the walls. They were something else entirely, covered with these wonderful ink drawings. 'Ya know, I wouldn't mind living here,' Inner Sakura commented._ Go away! Go away! You betraying thoughts_. 'Hey, I bet you thought that too.' _Well, yeah, but…_

"Nope!" Kakashi said cheerfully. "This is where you'll be living from now on."

Sakura's jaw dropped open.

"You're kidding, right?" Sai asked, looking a little shocked (which probably translated to ULTRA SHOCK in Sai-world).

"Nope!"

"B-B-But… m-my parents…" Sakura stuttered.

"Already told them!"

"School?" Sasuke inquired.

"What? Was that joke-y question? The café is in walkable distance of your schools."

Naruto gasped. "_I feel so violated_! How do you know what schools we go to?"

"How rude. I will ignore your comment." Kakashi cleared his throat, and then said, "Okay, well, kiddies"- here, he took a deep breath and smiled-"So, uh, where's you… you know, stuff?"

Sakura blinked. "Stuff?"

"Yeah, like, clothes? Books? Toiletries?" Kakashi said, his statement met by silence.

Kakashi sighed, as if to say, _oh dear, these children really do need to learn to be brighter. _"It was on the back of the note"-Naruto opened his mouth to speak, but Kakashi cut in-"I know, I know, _'b-but Kaka-sensei! We didn't read the back because we weren't smart enough to turn the note!'_, don't bother saying it, Naruto."

"Hey!" came Naruto's indignant reply.

"Okay, well, uh, why don't you kiddies get your stuff!" Without waiting for an answer, Kakashi plunked down on a sofa, and took out the ever-present orange book: _Icha Icha Paradise._

"Hehe."

(**A/N**: just a note… the "hehe" came from Kakashi, thinking pervy thoughts. XD)

-

"Hello, children," Kakashi greeted Sakura, Sai, Sasuke and Naruto, as they trudged onto the second floor of Konoha Café- their soon-to-be new home. He stared, somewhat disturbed, at Naruto, who was carrying (or at least, trying to carry) ten boxes of instant ramen, along with a bag (which he soon concluded was filled with even more instant ramen. Sakura walked in after Naruto, carrying another three boxes of the ramen (which couldn't possibly be hers. It was most likely Naruto's…) and a light pink and black suitcase… thing. Sai and Sasuke entered right after her, both carrying considerably smaller bags (Kakashi noted that they weren't carrying any boxes of ramen. 'Good,' he thought to himself, sweatdropping, 'Naruto brought enough ramen to last a family of four for at least half a year.')

"K…Ka…Ka…sen…sei," Naruto wheezed out, "help… ca… rry… ramen." He held out the boxes to Kakashi, a hopeful smile on his face.

"Ah, Naruto, you know me well enough to know that asking me to help you is completely useless and futile," Kakashi replied. Naruto groaned. "Why don't you just put the ramen down on the floor?"

Naruto's eyes bugged out. "_NO!_" he squeaked shrilly. "It can't possibly be safe for the ramen."

"Just put it down," Sasuke told him.

Naruto glared at Sasuke (how could he even _suggest _such a thing?!). "No, thank you. Ramen-chan and his buddies will be safely held in my wonderful embrace!" He looked lovingly at the box of ramen, and said, "Right, Ramen-chan? Hehe, don't worry, I'll be in my room soon, and I'll find a nice, _comfy _spot for you to rest!" He returned to stroking it, while giggling in an odd way.

Sakura sweatdropped.

Sai raised a brow.

Sasuke just looked generally disturbed.

Kakashi cleared his throat. "_Ahem_, moving on. Well, uh, you'll be sharing rooms, and there's other people living here too, just so you know."

"Other people?" Sakura repeated.

"Yeah, Ugly. You know, other human beings," Sai said sarcastically, as Sakura directed her Glare-o'-Doom at him. _"Imma kill joo!" _her glare seemed to say, _"if you say _one _more word." _Sai, apparently, didn't get that mental message. "Do you get that? You know, humans! Like _you!_" He made the horrible mistake of looking at Sakura to see her reaction…

Just as Sakura directed her Poke-o'-Doom at him.

Which would've harmlessly hit his cheek had he not turned. But he had. So her finger ended up poking his eye.

"… ow."

So that was how Sakura ended up sharing a room with Sai. Since, quote Kakashi, "this will help the two of you kiddies bond so you won't be so violent towards eachother". Kakashi even bet with Naruto (which turned out to be their weird hobby… thing; betting, that is) whether the two of them would end up happy little friends or not. Which Sakura thought was a completely crazy idea, seeing as a much better bet would be: _who ends up killing the other first_?

Oh well.

-

**Next Chapter **Now that the little kiddies… err, I mean, main characters, have gotten their stuff over to Konoha Café-their new home-will they survive the "training session"? And who _are _they sharing the apartment with? COULD ONE OF THEM BE A PSYCHO MURDERER? COULD ONE OF THEM MURDER ALL OF THEM IN THEIR SLEEP? Nah, I think not, because if they were murdered, there would be no story at all… unless they came back as ghosts. Or something. Ahem.

-

**Notes **So? What do you think? Sorry that it took pretty much forever to finish this chapter (Seriously, it was extremely hard to do… for some reason. o_o).

By the way, it's my birthday today! Yay! :)

Please review. Think of it as a birthday present to me. XD

xoxo,

**Decepshun **


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